Running out of Time
by Arctic Rabbit
Summary: Roxas suddenly finds himself in a different World That Never Was, but when he wakes up and comes back, he realizes it’s not a random incident, but instead a warning from the past for what is to come. .:Akuroku:. .:Zemyx:.
1. The Beginning

**A/N: Hey y'all! S'me. I've kept the plot of my old story but I've twisted it around enough so that I don't have any characters I know nothing about, I've got the characters needed for Akuroku, and I think, besides the beginning, that it'll be better in terms of writingness. It seems cracky in the beginning but I've always had this picture in my mind of Demyx swinging on a chandelier singing the Pink Panther theme song, simply because it's something I've always wanted to do. Anyway, please enjoy! **

**Rori, disclaimer!**

**Rori:** _She owns nothing 'cept the plot, Eraxes, Lexm, and Aryx. Everything else belongs to Squeenix and Disney._

**Me: Cuz if I DID own them, the whole game would've been about Axel + Roxas's relationship, meaning Axel wouldn't die and Roxas wouldn'ta left, Zexion and Demyx would've gotten together, Sora would've ditched Kairi for Riku, Ansem would've died the most horribly painful and painfully horrible death possible and...-trundles off merrily in her own little world-**

Demyx tiptoed against the wall, his feet padding soundlessly against the tile floor. He had his usual black cloak on, but with the hood over his Mullet/Mohawk hybrid and the shiny chains tucked in so they wouldn't reflect what little light there was. He walked noiselessly in the darkness, yet utterly ruined the whole silent thing he had going by humming the Pink Panther theme song as he snuck towards his target.

"Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-daaaaaa!"

The dirty blonde hit the floor with a thump, ninja-crawling his way to a door at the end of the hallway that had a large 'XIII' painted on it. Having reached his destination, Demyx glanced furtively left and right, reached up, grasped the door handle, turned, and—

The lights flicked on.

"Shitake mushrooms! I've been discovered!" Demyx shouted and jumped onto one of the light fixtures above his head, swinging slightly (**A/N**: You know, the ones you ALWAYS wanted to swing on but couldn't because they'd break? Yep. Those.) The Nobody at the other end of the hall sighed and crossed their arms over blue Papou pajamas, walking towards the musician.

"Dem?"

"Yeeeees?"

"What the heck are you doing?"

"Nothing," came the reply, earning an icy, blue-eyed stare from the other person. "Nothing, nothing! Really…" Demyx shifted away from the unrelenting glare. "Nothing, nada, z-zip…and if it was something is most certainly wasn't trying to kidnap you and force you to help Axel with another stupid plan…gotta believe me…" Demyx baited some more, then jumped from his perch and landed on his interrogator.

"Really, Roxas, it wasn't my idea! I couldn't help it! I just asked for help once! Well…maybe twice…five times…all day…but I didn't think kidnapping you would actually work!"

"Calm down, Demyx, callllllllllm down." Roxas gently shoved his friend off him, rubbing his bruised ribs. "Now, what was that about Axel?"

"I KNOW NOTHING!" Demyx shrieked as he ran back along the hall.

Roxas reluctantly got to his feet; dusting his Paopu PJs off and fixing his blonde hair back to its normal spiked up position.

"Maybe it's better this way. Ignorance is bliss and all that," he muttered, but as he turned toward the door to his room, he saw it swinging slowly shut, a wisp of red hair and a devious chuckle emanating from the other side.

"Ho, shi-" Roxas cut himself off as he jumped for the door, hitting it a second after it had closed. Maniacal laughter still echoed through the wood.

"Screw this," Roxas scowled as he drew his keyblades and opened a dark portal into his room, stepping through the darkness directly into…a trap. The poor keyblade master was jumped from behead by a tall, lanky Nobody with vibrant red hair that spiked up impossibly in an 'in-your-face-gravity!' kind of way, bright viridian eyes, and his trademark smirk playing across his face. After a few minutes of struggle, Roxas ended up pinned to the floor with the afore-mentioned redhead sitting on his stomach; Roxas unable to move so much as an eyebrow.

Axel leaned forward, his nose brushing the tip of the blonde's, locking his green eyes with the blue ones under him. "Rox…Roxy…I need your help, Roxy." He breathed the name in the Nobody's ear, delighting in his increased squirming.

Roxas fidgeted some more, Axel's breath tickling his ear. When the redhead just laughed, and he remained as pinned down as ever, he sighed and gave up, knowing he wouldn't be let alone until he heard what Axel wanted, and despite Axel's anorexic appearance, he was _heavy_. Besides, if Axel remained on top of him, it could lead to something. And no one wanted that. Especially not him. Right?

"Fine. What's the story, Axel?" Roxas stated, acting completely unfazed even in his situation.

Axel smirked, his green eyes glittering. "You won't regret it, Rox. Well, maybe you will, but I won't! Now, here's the deal. You have three days, got that? Three days, to get dear old princey to—"

"Wrong story."

"Fine. Some people ain't got no Atlantica in their soul. Okay, you know Zexion, right?"

"The poor emo-boi who's always reading and who Demyx is in love with?"

"Yeah, him. Well, you'll never guess, but Demyx is in love with—hey!" Axel glared at the boy under him. "ANYWAY, we, that is to say, Demyx and I, that is to say, I, have thought of a plan to get them together."

"Does it involve Ursula?" Axel shook his head. "Falling chandeliers?" Another shake. "Broom closets?" The redhead blinked and looked away.

"But Roxy! That's not the point! C'mon, Rox, this is true love here! Even if it is one-sided. My love for you is apparently one-sided, and look what happens in all those other fanfics!"

"Say WHAT?"

"Uh, never mind. So, erm, in any case, we need your help. You have to distract Zexion while we—Hey, Roxy, ya listenin'? Rox? Roxas, what's wrong?"

Axel jumped off the blonde, only to cradle his friend's head in his arms, worried green eyes staring into unseeing blue.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roxas blinked in confusion, peering around the white hallway he was suddenly in. '_Where…am I? It seems so familiar. This is…our castle? But how? Where?'_ These questions remained unanswered. The only thing Roxas knew was that he was in Headquarters, and a very odd version of it at that.

Lost in thought, he jumped a foot when a woman with green, short, spiky hair appeared and walked up to him with an air of bright interest. She was tall, almost as tall as Axel, and was wearing the standard Organization coat, if with a few changes. That in itself was odd, because A. Xemnas would never have allowed the casual rips and chains to obstruct the 'professional appearance', and B. Only an Organization member could wear the coat, and Roxas definitely hadn't heard of a fourteenth member; wasn't it called Organization _Thirteen_, after all?

He looked again at the person's face to find sparkling, intelligent green eyes that seemed to penetrate his soul, piercing into his thoughts. Roxas felt sure that she could see everything he had or hadn't done, all the decisions he'd made, he felt his world laid bare at those bright green eyes. The blonde looked down, breaking contact, and coughed self-consciously. When he looked up again, he was surprised to see the other Nobody's face split into a large smile.

"Sorry! Never was best with manners. Got a little carried away, heh, do that a lot." She didn't give Roxas time to wonder exactly what she had gotten carried away doing: she just kept on talking. "Right. I'm Lexm, Number Two in the Organization and the Thoughtful Dreamer. Name seems a bit too whimsical for me, more into pirates myself, but hey, live with what you can get, ne?" Roxas smiled tentatively back at her, she reminded him a lot of a certain water-controlling musician. Lexm grinned wolfishly back at him, and only then did he realize she was wearing skull earrings, a pirate emblem guitar pick around her neck, and sunken ships and skeletons were painted onto her standard black combat boots.

"Nice, right? Drew 'em myself," she stated proudly when she caught him staring at her shoes.

'_Is that…whiteout?'_ He thought to himself while merely nodding politely at the eccentric woman in front of him.

"Sure is, Roxas! Whiteout all the way! It's hard to draw with, but I couldn't use markers after that, uh, unfortunate incident with Desix."

"Ah." Roxas frowned, wondering what was bothering him. '_Wait a sec, what had she said?_' "How did you know I was thinking that? And how did you know my name? I don't remember telling you… I don't remember saying anything, actually."

"And now you _have_ said something, heh. Um, anyway, I should prolly take ya ta Numero Uno, time's a-wastin'!" She hedged, successfully avoiding Roxas's questions. She raised her hand, which was surprisingly ungloved and covered in fishnet, palm first. She flicked her fingers out, and a small white crystal began growing out of midair, hovering slightly above her fingertips.

"Come!" She shouted grabbing his wrist.

"Wait," Roxas stalled for time, doubting the sanity of following this complete stranger to wherever she wanted to take him. "What is that?" He asked, not asking the obvious, 'Why should I trust you?' so he wouldn't seem rude.

"This? It's called transportation, Spiky. We use it to get around. And I'm taking you to someone who can answer your questions, cuz I sure as cheese can't."

"Spiky?! You're hair's just as spiky as mine!"

"And that's saying something. So c'mon, grab it. Like I said, time's a-wastin'! And from what Aryx said, time is deathly important in this case." She turned solemn at that last part, and roughly pulled Roxas over to the clear crystal, placing his hand on top of it.

"Huh? What? No! Wait!" Roxas tried to let go of the gem, but his fingers were clenched tightly and no long under his control. He glanced around, and his surroundings seemed to be getting larger, and taller, until he realized that the castle wasn't growing: he was shrinking. He looked up just in time to see Lexm summon another transport crystal, and then he was in another place altogether.

There was nothing around him except white. And white. And more white. It reminded Roxas somewhat of the Castle Oblivion from where he was from, except that this place was just white, no structure of anything. There wasn't a floor, or a ceiling, or walls, there was only white all around him. The blonde was just floating in this blank place, right hand still clutching the white gemstone, which was rapidly turning black. He looked over his shoulder to see Lexm gently appear behind him.

"Just hold on to the stone, it'll move you once it turns completely black. I've told it to take you to the Boss. Don't let go, though, or we'd have to get Chelxia to come down here and get you, and oh that would be bad. There was this one time that Eraxes got stuck here, and we had to keep—" She was cut off when Roxas was suddenly jerked up through space, growing larger and larger in a dark room, the only light coming from a single window with curtains drawn halfway across and a lamp on the desk in front of him.

"So you have finally arrived, Etoirel."


	2. A dream is a wish your heart makes

**A/N: Chapter Two is up! Sorry for it being a day later than planned, but I started school last week, and it was killer O.o My new school is so flippin' big... I got lost at least 6 times. I'm walking 2 miles a day, that's how big it is. -twitch twitch- Oh, and I have that awful zig zaggy schedule where you go to one end of the school for first period, then to the other end for second, then all the way back at the other end for third, etc. Oh well, at least I'll be buff at the end of the year, right? Fun times... Okay, well, enjoy, I'll try and add more Akuroky goodness, but I don't want my story to be PWP, so it might take awhile. See ya in 2 weeks!**

**Disclaimer: Aww. This makes me sad everytime I say it. Curse you, Squeenix! Why can't I own it too? -sobs- **

"Etoirel? What the heck does that mean?" Roxas asked, momentarily distracted from his previous questions.

"I-I mean, hi. I'm Roxas." He stuttered, not wanting to be rude. The stiff, brown haired woman in front of him _radiated _authority, and as of yet she was a complete unknown. Roxas assumed her to be the mysterious 'Aryx', the Superior that Lexm was talking about, so he didn't need to affront in any way. Besides, first impressions are what counts, right?

To his relief, she smiled at him, and nodded graciously at his introduction.

"I am Aryx, the Society's leader, and the Eternal Voice. You are here on my wish, because what happened once is now happening again. I _Called_ to you, and you came. Hear the song.

"_The Voice of the hearts_

_Has been broken and cracked._

_Their Sight distorted, untrue._

_Filled with the darkness that they once lacked,_

_Their light is mangled and shines askew._

_This chaotic situation must be undone,_

_The hearts must be turned pure,_

_If you cannot stop them before it's too late,_

_You alone must give the cure._

_Where two hearts together create harmony,_

_Havoc is wreaked in a gathering of more._

_Where one heart alone lives in peace,_

_Hundreds joined creates war._

_Listen well, young Etoirel,_

_To save your friends and foes,_

_Find your other before the last call,_

_Figure out what no one yet knows."_

Roxas tilted his head, wondering what the heck a song had to do with anything. "Can you please explain?" So many things had happened today, he figured he'd just roll with it until things were sorted out. And right now they certainly weren't.

"There is no time now, Etoirel."

"Can you at least tell me what that means? And why don't we have time?"

"Even my voice cannot keep you here long. The _Call_ of your world is strong. Even now you begin to fade."

"But I still have so many questions! Like that name you keep calling me. It's Roxas." And even as Roxas said it, he felt nauseas and disconnected, small black dots invading his vision.

Aryx chuckled lightly. "It means…"

And everything went black.

Roxas cracked one eyelid open, his azure eyes suddenly looking into emerald green about an inch away.

"Holy CRAP! What the—?" The spiky-haired blonde shot up, jumping off the bed, Oblivion and Oathkeeper already sliding into his hands, only to crumple the second he hit the floor from stiffness.

"I could ask you the same question." Axel turned to his best friend, who was now lying on the marble floor in a heap of limbs. The redhead sighed and helped Roxas into a sitting position on the floor.

"Wha-what do you mean? N-nothing happened." You couldn't blame him. Roxas thought that his friend would 1. freak out 2. send him to a mental hospital or 3. report it to Xemnas. None of these options seemed all that great at the moment, so he decided to fake innocence.

Axel wasn't taking it, and so exploded.

"You expect me to believe THAT? How stupid do you think I am, exactly?"

Refusing to answer that question, Roxas sighed and turned away from the persistant redhead. "I don't really want to talk about it just yet. Can you go away now?"

"No, I have to make sure you're okay. You half went into an effing coma back there Rox. Heck, I was so worried I actually called you Roxas." Roxas raised an eyebrow. That was big. "I haven't done that since the day we first met!"

"Whatever Axel. Just let me take a shower, maybe it'll help me feel better. Got a lot of things to think about." So saying he stripped off his shirt and walked into the closet to get a clean set of clothes. He was not, however, going to be let off that easy, and when he glanced back at Axel he saw the pyromaniac blinking stupidly while staring at Roxas's bare upper torso.

"What happened to you?"

"Self control…slowly…dying…"

Roxas took that as his cue and left for the showers with due haste.

XIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIIIXIIIVIII

Roxas sighed as the hot water ran down his forehead, the bathroom quickly filling with steam. The steady roar of the water drowned (A/N: ha-ha, bad pun) out all other sound, leaving the blonde alone in his thoughts. What had just happened? Was it a dream? It couldn't have been a dream, though. Nobodies couldn't have dreams, as Xemnas had said so long ago. Then what was that? A hallucination? It just seemed so real. More importantly, who could he tell? It's not like he could just announce it to the whole Organization, oh no. Xemnas would think he was trying to start a rebellion, most would think he was lying, and the rest would label him as crazy.

Who then? Axel, most definitely. Despite the cold was Roxas acted toward the fire user, Roxas actually enjoyed his company. Axel was never afraid to speak his mind (though it often got him in trouble) he was cocky and funny, and always knew how to bring a smile to his face. Axel was dependable. Demyx could also be trusted. He, out of all the Organization members, believed they could feel the most. He was happy all the time, and tried his best to make others happy, too. Demyx could make even Zexion smile. He was a trio member, hanging out with Axel and Roxas whenever something was happening, and with Zexion the rest of the time. Demyx always made time for Zexion, he was determined to make the boy happier, no matter what it took. And, to everyone's amazement, it was working.

Mind made up, Roxas stepped out of the shower and dried off, summoning his cloak before opening the door. Unsurprisingly, Axel was still on his bed, sound asleep, tired from looking after Roxas all night. The keyblade master smiled at the redhead; Axel seemed to attain a peace in sleep that he never showed awake. Walking over to his friend, Roxas gently thumbed the purple tear-shaped tattoo under Axel's ete, marveling at how serene he looked. Roxas pulled away, but jumped when a thin white hand grabbed his hand, slim pianist's fingers wrapping all the way around his wrist. He turned and saw Axel's emerald eyes cracked halfway open.

"Aw. Why'd you stop?"

"A-Axel!" Roxas stuttered, embarrassed at being caught. "I thought you were asleep."

"'T's the though that counts," he said, before rolling over and falling back asleep.

Roxas breathed out in relief and went out the door, heading to the kitchen. He searched through the fridge, found some cheesecake and ate a slice. Without a parental figure, Roxas could (and would) eat everything unhealthy in sight. The Nobodies didn't need much to eat, anyway. Without a heart and other muscles, their bodies used less energy than normal people, and so had to consume less.

But before Roxas could grab a second slice of the fudge swirl goodness, Demyx burst through the door.

"My cheesecake senses are tingling! My baby's in danger! Must help her!" With that, Demyx ran toward the refrigerator, slammed open the door and grabbed the now pacman-shaped cake.

"A slice…a slice…HAS BEEN EATEN! Nuuu!" The Melodious Noctourne glanced around wildly, and, upon seeing Roxas, narrowed his eyes at the unsuspecting blonde.

"Roxas! Did you see who ate my cheesecake?"

"Nope." And he hadn't. He couldn't very well see himself eating the cheesecake, right? So really, he hadn't been lying. Take THAT, conscience!

"Hmm. Okay. I'll get Zexion to figure it our later. Speaking of my Zexy, did you know…"

As Demyx carried on with his merry, yet one0sided, conversation, Roxas was thinking. He knew he could trust Demyx to believe him, but could he trust him not to tell? Well, the only person that might listen was Zexion, but still. Hmm, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have the slate-haired emo on his side. The boy was a genius, after all. He might know something about this 'Aryx' figure, or 'Etoirel'. But first…there was something that had been bothering him…

"Hey, Demyx?" Roxas began, completely interrupting the musician, who was in the middle of some rant about whether it was actually an alligator who bit Captain Hook's hand off instead of a crocodile. Or something like that, Roxas wasn't really listening.

"What's up, Roxas? You think it was an alligator, too?"

"Nah, it's just…I was wondering, why can't Nobodies dream?"

"Cuz… ♪_A dream is wish your heart makes! When you're fast asleep. In dreams you can looooose your heartache, whatever you wish for you keep…__♪__"_

Roxas just sat back in his chair, Demyx's round-a-bout way of answering his question actually making sense. He guessed dreaming _was_ just another privilege only people with hearts had. Well, that ruled out dream. Vision and hallucination were left.

"Why do you ask?" Demyx had apparently finished his song, and was looking worriedly at the younfer Nobody.

"Well..." Now or never. "I, um, I think..."

"You had a dream, didn't you, Roxas?"

"How did you know?" Roxas was surprised, no, astounded that the usually ditzy Nobody had figured it out. He glanced up with wide eyes at Demyx, only to find the mulleted-boy looking at someone else standing in the doorway.

Following Demyx's line of vision, Roxas found a Nobody with blue hair covering half of his face staring right at him, an uncaring expression on his face, but curiosity sparkled in his one visible eye.

"Tell me about it."

"Y-you're not going to tell Xemnas?"

"No."

"Then…why would you help me?"

"Because I'm beginning to believe we can feel too. I suppose that if more than one of us can experience the effects of having a heart, it would provide enough proof to show that I am right." Zexion glanced briefly toward Demyx, his expression softening for half a second before turning back to Roxas. The glimpse was small, but it was there, and Roxas nodded resolutely.

"Right. Let's go."

**A/N: Yay! Chapter Two is finished. No quite as long as the last one, oh well. Next time it'll be longer. Read and review, please! They're food for my soul!**


	3. Smirks can be that specific

**A/N: I'm so sorry for being, uh -counts on fingers- like 3 days late! But I was in Florida with my cousins, and I couldn't send it in. I had it finished though, I did! But I'll update the next chapter a few days early to make up for it. Really, I will. I was going to put the first page of chapter four up instead, but I figured 3 days early for 3 days late was better -maniacal laugh- Anyway, enjoy! And this chapter is dedicated to my first reviewer ever, Raven Darkstar, for her awesomeness, and for telling me to continue my story, which gave me the strength to go on. strikes heroic pose Thank you very much! **

**Disclaimer: If I actually owned Kingdom Hearts, I'd be swimming in my 5 million dollar pool right now, not writing this story. Which I'm not. -sigh- Oh well, life goes on.**

**Chaptiare Three:**

"_Right. Let's go."_

--

"Go where?" Zexion tilted his head in puzzlement.

Roxas blinked back at him. Didn't all the good guys say that before they embarked on some journey? Roxas mentally shrugged. He wasn't a good guy, so it didn't matter. But Zexion still needed an answer, and so did Axel.

"To go tell Axel."

"You haven't told him yet?"

"I wanted to tell everyone at the same time. Two birds with one stone. And besides, I didn't want to wake him up, he looked really peaceful and…stuff." Roxas turned away so the others wouldn't see his blush. Despite this, however, Zexion saw, and smirked at Roxas on his way out.

Zexion led the way to Axel's room, but Roxas stopped him short.

"Actually, he's in my room."

Zexion paused. "I thought he was asleep."

Roxas mumbled incoherently and just pushed past the Nobody, who was now smiling in a 'ha-I-have-so-much-blackmail-on-you-now-and-I'm-not-called-the-Cloaked-Schemer-for-nothing' way. And yes, it is possible to be that detailed in your smiling. In a couple of minutes, the trio had reached Roxas' door and gone through to find Axel still asleep on the bed.

"Rise and shine, Axel! It's a beautiful morning, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, and it's the start of a wonderfu—" Demyx was cut off when a blue pillow collided head on with his face.

"Demyx, we don't have birds, or the sun. Or morning, for that matter." A very groggy looking Axel blinked slowly at them, vibrant red spikes more mussed than usual.

"But Axeeeel! Roxas is going to tell us about his dreeeeaaam!" Demyx had resumed his prancing around, black combat boots leaving small indentions on the white carpet of Roxas' room.

"Roxas had a dream?" Axel was no longer looking at the mulleted Nobody; instead, the full power of his questioning gaze was transferred to Roxas. The blonde cringed, shifting from one foot to the other nervously.

"Does this have anything to do with when you passed out earlier?"

"Roxas passed out earlier?" Now everyone was looking at the poor keyblade master, who closed his eyes and sat down on the bed next to Axel, who put a reassuring arm around his shoulders.

"Okay, and when are you going to tell us the full story?"

"Let's try…now?" Roxas glared at Axel. "If you can stop questioning me long enough for me to say something." Axel smirked and ruffled Roxas' golden spikes affectionately.

"Aw, you know we're just worried about you." Roxas blushed at his words, and the room gradually fell silent. Roxas drew a shaky breath, he wasn't even sure if the dream was real anymore.

"Okay…where to start?"

"You could always try the beginning."

Roxas tossed another glare the redhead's way before continuing. "It was an average night for me. I had just gotten back from a mission in Port Royal with Luxord, scouting out some ships. I went strait to my room and was about to fall asleep when I heard this _weird_ humming coming from outside my door. It sounded like the Pink Panther theme song or something." Roxas cocked his head at Demyx, who smiled back sheepishly.

"Anyway, I portaled to the other end of the hall, just in time to see our favorite blonde musician here about to open the door to my room. I flipped the lights on, and he jumped the whole nine feet to the ceiling, swinging from one of the ceiling lights and still humming that song. I asked him what the heck he thought he was doing, and he said something about me helping Axel to get Ze—MMPH! Ax—Axel! Le-let m-me ge- go!"

"Well if you hadn't—YOWCH! WTF? You BIT me!"

Axel withdrew his hand from Roxas' mouth in record time, cradling his injured finger whilst staring at Roxas with a mixture of apprehension and anger.

"Why'd you expect me to do? You had your hand clamped around my mouth! Do you want me to tell the story or not?"

"You don't have to tell the whole story! Leave out some parts that we _don't necessarily need to know._"

"Wha--? Ohhh! Okay."

Axel sighed in relief and gestured for Roxas to tell the rest while Zexion looked on with amusement.

"Okay, um, right. Anyway, Demyx jumped from the ceiling, on top of me, I might add, and then ran for it. I sighed and figured it was best not to know, when I spotted Axel closing the door to my room and cackling evilly. I summoned my keyblades and summoned a portal into my room—"

"Which I was totally expecting."

"—and was jumped from behind by Axel. Everything past that's kind of fuzzy, until I opened my eyes again and was in, well, I think it was the Castle That Never Was, but it seemed different. It seemed—"

"Older." Zexion nodded at Roxas' surprised look. "I thought I smelled an old scent on you before, and I was wondering where it had come from. Now we know."

"But I didn't go there physically, so how can you…?"

"My power of smell is not limited to only the physical aspect of existence. There is a special kind of scent exuded by the mind. Not the brain, mind you, but the actual part of the soul that is, in essence, you. Your soul must have traveled to this different time, and came back with that smell."

The others blinked at him, thoroughly confused.

"So many…big words. Zexy, can you explain your, uh, explanation?" Demyx grabbed Zexion's sleeve and pulled on it, a pout on his face. Zexion was in a state of shock. Demyx looked so unbelievably cute just now. It took all of his self-control (which was considerable) to stop himself from bending down and kissing the unsuspecting blonde.

_Focus, Zexion! There's a problem at hand! Go obsess over Demyx later! _Zexion stopped in his mental reprimand. _No. There will be no later. Demyx has the attention span of a goldfish on crack, he's an __idiotic, imbecilic, incompetent, vulnerable, naïve, innocent, good-hearted person__who always goes out of his way to—_Zexion figured it was best to just stop thinking.

"I'll tell you later, Demyx. Roxas, continue." He spent the next five minutes trying to fight down a blush and ignore Demyx, who was still clinging to his coat sleeve. It was harder than he'd thought it would be, especially since he _never_ blushed and had _never_ had a problem with ignoring _anyone_ before. Maybe he was coming down with something.

Roxas took a second to smirk in a 'ha-now-I-have-blackmail-on-you-and-they-don't-call-me-the-Key-of…-nevermind-cuz-I-still-have-blackmail-on-you' way. Zexion, however, missed it, because he was so preoccupied with the activities mentioned above.

"Um, right. It was an older version of our castle, and I was glancing around, wondering where in the worlds I was, when this…_unusual_ Nobody walks up. She was tall, almost as tall as you, Axel," Axel scoffed, "and had bright green eyes that matched her extremely spiky hair. She was really…energetic. Kind of like Demyx, but not. And she had this weird ability to see what I was thinking. She introduced herself as Lexm, the 'Thoughtful Dreamer' and said she was going to take me to her Superior, Aryx—"

Zexion interrupted with a gasp. Three pairs of eyes looked worriedly towards him. The blue-haired Nobody never gasped, or was surprised in any way. After a second, his composure returned, and he told Roxas to continue. And Roxas did, recounting the dream fully and even managing to remember the full length of the poem.

Zexion finally stood up and summoned a dark portal. "Come, we need to go to the library—"

"We have a library?"

"Yes, Axel, we have a library. Just because you can't read doesn't mean others can't. Now come, I have something I need to show you all."

They all filed through the portal, dutifully following Zexion, Demyx still clinging to his coat sleeve.

Once there, Zexion managed to shake off Demyx and immediately disappeared amongst the shelves, only to return a few minutes later with a heavy blue tome. The book had a royal blue, lightened with age, leather cover with yellowing pages in gold lining. There was nothing on the cover save for a large roman numeral V in black letters.

"Well, at least it's not a giant X, though I always suspected Zexion read po—"

Quick as lightening, Zexion snatched another book from the shelf, thwacking Axel with it in the same motion.

"This book is the history of the Nobodies, a collection of stories from the birth of the first Nobody to ever exist. It was decreed by that Nobody that, for every generation, there would be a recorder to write down events and hand them on to the next group. I am that person for Organization XIII."

"Well no duh." Axel was reclining upside down on a couch, feet dangling over the headrest while his mane of red hair was splayed across the floor. "No one else here even goes near the library."

"I'm glad you think so highly of my literary skills," Zexion replied dryly. "Anyway, this book holds the story of the very first 'Organization' of Nobodies. Or, as they were called then, the Society of Five. Can anyone guess who led them?"

Demyx and Axel shook their heads, but Roxas was sitting stock still on the edge of his plush chair, fingers clenching into the armrest. Zexion laughed softly.

"Yes, Roxas. The first Nobody, Superior of the Society of Five, the Eternal Voice, was Aryx, the same Nobody you saw in your dream. Or, more accurately, vision from the past."

Despite finally getting some information, and the answers to his 'who' questions, Roxas felt a twinge of regret. If what Zexion said was true (and it almost undoubtedly was) then his dream was really a vision, and no dream still meant no heart.

"Now, Roxas, can you recount the poem to me again? I'm going to write it down. It was clear that she was trying to tell you something, we just need to figure out what."

Roxas snapped back to reality, refocusing. He looked up and saw Zexion waiting expectantly with a pen and paper.

"…_Now listen well, young Etoirel,_

_To save your friend and foe._

_Find your other before the last call,_

_Find out what no one yet knows."_

Roxas finished the poem he'd been repeating over and over in his head for the last hour, not wanting to forget any of it.

"Okay, thank you. Now we need to discover the meaning behind the riddle."

"But Zexy, we don't know anything about Aryx or the Society of Five. We should know about that first."

Heads turned toward Demyx. Was that _logic_ from the usually ditzy blonde? The other three unconsciously edged away.

"Demyx is…right." Zexion cringed at the sentence. "In order to relate to what Aryx might be talking about, I suppose we must review her story. I guess I will read it to you."

"Oooh! Like a bedtime story?" Demyx was his starry-eyed self again, tugging on Zexion's abused sleeve once more.

The slate-haired Nobody sighed and picked up his book. "Yes, Demyx. Like a bedtime story." He flipped it open, finding a page marked with dark blue silk.

"Once upon a time…"

**End Note: Haha. I like the ending. I took 'slight' out of the summary, because I really love the Zemyx pairing, and though Akuroku is my OTP and what this fic is about, there will be a lot of Zemyx. Yay. Okay, up next is the Society of Five's story, Aryx's journal, and another dream/vision/message thing. Woot! Review, pweese!**


	4. Once Upon A Time

**A/N: Yay! Chapter Four is up! And mildly on time! Also, if anyone hasn't noticed, I decided to write a one-shot instead of updating earlier. It was five pages written, about 4 typed, so I hope I made my lateness last time up to you. It's fluff, and I can't write fluff very well, but I tried, and it's the thought that counts, right? Right??? Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own them. Oh, how I wish I did, things would have gone so much more…different. Heh. And the game would've probably been rated Mature.**

**Chapitaire Four**

"Once upon a time…" --

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. 'Once upon a time'? Is this Disney or something?"

Axel was immediately shushed by two impatient blondes. The redhead sighed in exasperation, but let Zexion continue without further interruption.

"At the dawn of the universe," began the Cloaked Schemer, "the brink of time itself, there existed two entities, Lumen and Caliga. They soon grew bored of the Nothingness around them, and so created Life, a mixture of both light and dark, chaos and order, day and night.

"The beings grew and evolved, and as they gained knowledge, they began to have control of the forces inside of them. Because they had both light and dark, they were able to do things the greater entities could not, and the creators grew jealous. They contained the powers of the individuals in an object they called a 'heart'. The creatures went back to being powerless: they still had light and dark in them, but they could not use its magic. And so the two, overlords and underlings, lived in peace for a time. But the peace could not last.

"Now, there came a day when the darkness in one of the people's hearts become too much, and the light fled from its host, leaving the person to dwell forever in the shadows. Without the light to keep the darkness in check, the dark grew to enormous potential. The original Night, Caliga, saw this power as a danger to It's position, and gave the darkness a mind of its own. The darkness took this freedom happily (turning into the first Heartless), and, as was planned by Caliga, it left its host with Nothing.

"She was Nothing, she had Nothing, there was only Nothing. And because of this, she had no one. She was shunned by her people, cast out of the place she had grown up in. They were afraid of the unknown, and wanted nothing to do with such a being. For weeks she was an outcast, wandering her world looking for solace, looking for something, but all she ever found was Nothing. She gave herself the name 'Nobody', because to everyone else, that is exactly what she was.

"After a year of enduring her solitude, the Nobody received a visitor to her lonely cottage in the woods. This visitor was her sister from before her 'abandonment', as she would call it later. The sister claimed to have searched the world for her sibling, and now that she had found her, she was determined to help. The sister researched darkness and light for days on end, even experimenting upon herself. Eventually, though, one of the experiments went wrong. In trying to recreate light in a heart, the sister chased all the darkness in herself away. However, just as the first Nobody's darkness became too powerful, the sister's light did as well. Lumen saw this, and decided to do what Caliga had done: give the light a mind of its own and let it come away from its host (becoming one of the Princesses of Heart). And so, in trying to help her sibling, the sister only became a Nobody herself.

"Nonetheless, the two Nobodies were not alone anymore, for they had each other. They continued their research, and over time, three more people came; two were already Nobodies, one underwent the change willingly. They combined their forces and talents, and moved to an abandoned castle in another world to conduct studies on light and dark. They spent years and years trying to figure out the mysteries of their existence.

"After a decade of study between the five Nobodies, or as they called themselves, the Society of Five, they discovered a possible solution to their plight. They called it 'Kingdom Hearts', and it was a world made of the hearts taken by Darkness, and in some cases, Light. However, before the project could be completed, the Society of Five vanished, taking all notes on it with them."

Zexion finished with finality, and paused to look at his audience members. Demyx appeared to be asleep on his shoulder, still clutching his arm. Axel seemed to be trying to lay down against Roxas, who was repeatedly shoving him off. All in all, it seemed like Zexion himself was the only one to get any meaning from the story.

Roxas' head snapped up as Zexion looked at him. "Oh, right. Hey, Zexion, is there anything else on Aryx?" Roxas moved away from the couch to look at the book in Zexion's hands.

"The next few pages are what is left of her journal, if that is what you're looking for. Not much in there, though, aside from experiments. Here, take a look for yourself."

Roxas took the book, marking the place with a finger, and went back to the couch, leaving Zexion to deal with a softly snoring Demyx. He opened it up once he sat back down, and felt Axel peer over his shoulder to read with him. The entries were mostly written by Aryx, but in some places the long, flowing cursive would be replaced with a spiky, crabby writing when she was unavailable to write.

_-4 Azalaya, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear journal,_

_Today we fully let go of our past selves, cemented ourselves into a new lifestyle, forever letting the past go. It was all Mel's idea, or, as I must now call her, Lexm's. She said that we are different people, and so should have different identities. But, she told us, we still have a part of who we once were, just with an added element. Since we don't yet know what that element is, it is an unknown, a variable, 'x'. So that is what we must add to our names. Brilliance, really, but I expected nothing less from my sister._

_Following her directions, I added an x to my name, Ray. Now, I am Aryx. The name fits in a way my other did not. Ray was who my Somebody was, and in taking her name, I was living a lie. Now I know who I am. Hear my voice, Lumen, Caliga, know I am Aryx, and know that one day I will discover your secrets._

_Eternally yours,_

_Ray_

_Aryx_

Roxas flipped the page to a later date, looking for anything out of the ordinary, and feeling a new respect for Lexm, knowing she was the sister who risked everything to help her sibling.

_19 Azalaya, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear journal,_

_My dearest Desix has come up with yet another crack-brained scheme to bring back the Forces, as we call them. He seems to think it is related to the heart we no longer seem to possess. He is probably right, for once. I do not, however, think trying to forcefully merge moogle synthesis items with real people will work. Desix will be Desix, though, and he will try._

_Eternally yours,_

_Aryx_

_25 Azalaya, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear journal,_

_Desix's idea did not work as well as he thought it would, but it definitely did better than I had hoped. We merged all of the elemental crystals together, for, as Chelxia said, the heart is unpredictable and made of all things. Our end result was, in essence, a fake heart. The heart seemed to work, and was made of light and dark, but when we tried to get it to function inside one of us, it was rejected after a few minutes. The subject was able to think and feel, exist, like a regular person for a short time, though, and this knowledge will definitely help us later on._

_There was a side effect for the operation, however, and it was memory loss; during the heart-time, as we call it, they had no recollection of who they were, and after, they did not know what had happened. Two separate people, it seemed, but in the same body._

_What interests me most is why the heart was rejected. Maybe a fake heart just isn't compatible, but the others and myself believe it is more. We believe there is a small piece of heart left in us, either the light in the darkness that never goes out, or the darkness in the light that never fades. Maybe we're just grasping at false hope but… Whatever the case, we think it is that small bit that is rejecting the fake hearts. At the very least, it is worth looking into._

_Eternally yours,_

_Aryx_

_8 Craiza, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear journal, (Well, Aryx's journal)_

_Hey, 'diary'. Aryx is currently occupied –cough cough- and can't write in this. Well, since I know you care, I'll tell you the real deal. Basically, I asked Eraxes to cast a sleeping spell on her so she could finally get some rest. She'll thank us later…maybe…hopefully…aw, fine, never. Oh well, the deed is done, ne? But seriously! She's been working nonstop on this idea her and Chelxia had. They elieve if we can gather enough hearts in one place, the combined power will be able to either give us our hearts, or create another one for us. Or something like that… What? You expect me to listen? Pffft. Well, that's it for today, I guess._

_Thoughtfully (heh) yours,_

_Lexm_

_12 Craiza, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear Journal,_

_That sister of mine! She drugged me! __Drugged__ me with magic! Well, technically, Eraxes did it…but it was Lexm's idea! I wasted ten, _ten, _hours in mindless sleep! All that time, gone! And we had just managed to put up the magic that _Called _the hearts, too! Now the magic is nigh irreversible: all hearts in the future will go to Kingdom Hearts, as we call it, until I can find the time to set up the spell to annul the effect. If I die, it might never be lifted. The spell will take while to lift, and my magic power still hasn't replenished itself, so I guess I will just have to, well, not die till then. Darn that sister for taking such a risk, even if it was unintentional. And the whole surviving thing may prove to be harder than usual with the way Chelxia is experimenting with dimensions. Using her power, she has discovered a way to teleport anywhere. She says she shrinks herself down to nothing (no pun intended) and because the dimension of nothing does not truly exist, it can exist anywhere, or so she says. In short, we now have a way to get someplace at once. Pretty spiffy, I say, though I still do not understand the mechanics._

_Eternally yours,_

_Aryx_

_32 Craiza, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear journal,_

_I apologize for not writing in so long, but I have had to tend to Desix and Eraxes. They have fallen into a type of coma, and Lexm says that their spirits are elsewhere, for she cannot sense their thoughts or their minds. And worse, they are slowly beginning to fade, tendrils of darkness slowly drifting away from them. I do not know what has caused this, but I must discover it soon before we are all under the influence of this…disease. And I must work all the faster, for I fear Chelxia may be next. More later._

_Eternally yours (though how long is eternity?),_

_Aryx_

Roxas turned the page, expecting to find the 'more later', but there was nothing—the next page had been completely torn out, and the page after that was blank.

"Zexion…what's missing?" Roxas held up the book, showing the jagged edge of where the paper should have been.

"Always been missing. When I found it in the archives, it was already damaged."

"Ah. Maybe there's a bigger mystery behind it all."

Axel sat up from looking over roxas' shoulder. "Sure, but we aren't Scooby Doo (we have much better animation), so let's focus on one mystery at a time, 'kay?"

"Mm. Demyx, wake up. Story's over." Zexion gently shook the sleeping blonde, then tapped his nose with a finger. "Demyx, wake up."

"Nngh. Five more minutes."

Roxas watched them with an amused expression, and then turned to Axel, who had tapped his shoulder. The redhead cocked an eyebrow, glancing from Zexion to Demyx and back again. Roxas grinned and nodded. They both knew it wasn't love or anything: Nobodies couldn't love. Yet throughout the Organization, the members would occasionally have little flings, trying desperately to remember the feelings that had come with having a heart. Most everyone pretended like they had emotions, and the others went along with it. It gave them a semblance of humanity, and it was these small things that allowed most to hold onto their sanity.

Roxas looked back over at Zexion, who still hadn't managed to awaken the sleeping Demyx, and decided it was time to intervene.

"Demyx, if you don't get up, Axel will burn your entire guitar collection in three…two…one…"

"AXEL NO! Get back here you guitar-burning fire-obsessed freak!" Now wide awake and standing, Demyx glanced around sheepishly, then turned around and sat back down on the white couch next to Zexion. The Cloaked Schemer glared at Roxas, as if to say, 'I was handling it!' who only grinned back.

"'Kay, everyone, let's get out the riddle again, and we'll start with the first stanza." Roxas was mildly surprised; so the usually insolent redhead had a mature side after all.

"Wow, Axel, I'm surprised you even know what the word 'stanza' means."

"Hey, we don't all spend our free time memorizing dictionaries. I, at least, have someone to spend time with who isn't a book." Axel paused and grabbed Roxas waist, eliciting a squeak from the blonde. Never mind on that whole mature side, then.

"Is that so? Well, I—"

"Guys, don't we have something a tad more important to do than arguing about how we spend our time?" Roxas managed to disentangle himself from Axel, and turned with a frown to the other two Nobodies.

"Heh. Right." Grabbing the piece of paper Zexion had used to write down the dream riddle, he read aloud the first line.

"The Voice of the hearts—"

"What does it mean by the 'Voice'?"

"It probably relates to Aryx. Voice means they have the ability to speak, to make decisions…maybe she gave them a bit of will power? Or they already had it?"

"No," Roxas shook his head. "That's how they lost their hearts. I'm sure Aryx wouldn't let that happen."

"Okay. Then let's see…it's their voice, their will, their thoughts, their…hmmm. Well, what was her voice to Aryx?"

"Oh! It was her power!" Demyx chipped in, finally getting something.

"Right, so maybe 'the Voice of the hearts' means 'the power of the hearts'?"

"That sounds about right. So the power of the hearts…"

"_Has been broken and cracked,_

_Their sight distorted, untrue._

_Filled with the darkness that they once lacked,_

_Their light is mangled and shines askew."_

"So, basically, the hearts are screwed?"

"Sure, Axel, way to completely murder all the poetic aspects."

"But what could cause that? Usually the heart is always trying to be good, trying to do right, even if it is consumed by evil."

"Maybe…. maybe these hearts aren't in a person."

"But still, even hearts just from a heartless haven't been tainted with the Heartless' want for chaos. At least, I think so. No one's been able to keep one long enough to study it, they've always gone strait to—"

"ATTENTION! All members report to the conference room immediately. That means NOW, Axel."

"Sheesh. I wasn't late last time, why'd he have to single me out again?" The four stood up, and Roxas summoned another dark portal.

"Axel…you completely missed the last meeting."

"Exactly. So how could I have been late?"

Roxas shook his head at his friend, and walked through the portal after Demyx, wondering what the meeting had in store for them.


	5. Southern Hippies

**A/N: Haha! I'm back! Sorry again for being late, but I'm moving, as you probably know, or do now, so the internet is all funked up, and it's been flickering on and off lately. Namely, this weekend. So I couldn't submit the chapter. It kind of sucks, but I didn't have much time to work on it... Yeah, yeah, excuses excuses, I know. But I have it up! And it's there. See? See? -poke poke- Anyway, through the suckiness, I hope you enjoy it! Twist and turns galore in here, though many you probably saw coming. Read and Review!**

Chap_i_ta_i_re F_i_ve

"_Exactly. So how could I have been late?"_

"Feet together, back strait, chest out, chin up, shoulders back, eyes forward, hood on, atten-hut!"

Roxas rolled his eyes at Xigbar's antics. He had always said his Somebody was a true country general who won countless battles. Pfft, as Axel has once said, Xigbar was probably just using it as an excuse to hear his own voice. **(A/N: No offense to Xiggy fans, I luffle him, I really do, but that country accent gets me every time, the 'clever little sneak' that I am XD) **

The keyblade master shifted slightly on his white throne, glancing around the spacious area for Axel. The room itself was pure white, almost blindingly so. The monotony was only interrupted by the black cloaks on the tall chairs positioned at varying heights and the round table on the floor with the Nobody's emblem inscribed on it in grey. Roxas spotted a flick of red before it was concealed under a hood, and grinned wryly at his friend. 'What's the _Superior_ going to ramble about now?' they both thought, but neither expected what came next.

A sudden flash of dark energy on the floor below him made Roxas jerk his vision downward. Three black shapes slowly materialized, revealing Saix and Xemnas, Saix holding a prone figure in his arms. Roxas leaned forward, trying to see what it was, as the other members did the same. When he couldn't see anything, Roxas glanced around at the seats, finding three empty. One for Xemnas, one for Saix…who was missing?

Black dreadlocks spilled from the hood.

"Xa-Xaldin?" Roxas gasped, and immediately started to teleport to the fallen Nobody, as so many were doing.

"Stay in your positions!" Xemnas' thundered command stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Now," the Superior's sickly-sweet voice, though whispered, seemed to echo around the room. "Does anyone know who has done this? Does anyone…" He whirled around to face everyone, black cloak swirling behind him, "know?" Roxas numbly shook his head, knowing that to utter a sound meant death. Of the quick yet painful kind.

"Number Six!" The slate haired Nobody stiffened, and Roxas froze, thinking Xemnas might be blaming his friend. "Were there any new scents in the castle today?"

Roxas seemed to visibly relax, realizing it was just Zexion's ability to detect people's scents that was being questioned, not his loyalty.

"No, sir." Even in his predicament, Zexion still managed to be as cold and callous as ever.

"You are certain?"

"But of course," sneered Zexion, as though affronted that his skills were being questioned.

"Then someone must have found a way around your sense, hmm? Unless you're insinuating it was one of…us." Xemnas returned to casting his amber gaze around the room, the tension palpable now.

"The possibility cannot be ruled out."

"I see…Number Four!" In his chair, Vexen jumped. "You are to take Number Two to the infirmary, and make sure his vital signs stay normal. Maintain a constant surveillance of his functions and abilities. Inform Saix or me every two hours about what is happening to him. Numbers Eleven and Twelve, you are to initiate an immediate search of the castle, I want no room left unsecured. The rest of you, back to your duties. If you _could_ worry, I would tell you not to, but that's not possible, is it?" With one final scorn-filled glance, Xemnas portaled out, leaving Saix and Vexen to deal with the unconscious Xaldin.

"Bright little ray of sunshine, isn't he? To the library, again, Rox?"

Roxas nodded his head at Axel, and opened a dark portal to where Demyx and Zexion were already waiting.

"You know, I am surprised the Superior did not order someone to search the library, see if it has happened before," Zexion was telling Demyx, who merely nodded his assent. Zexion stood up as Roxas appeared.

"But that is beside the point. What now? Do we continue with the riddle?"

"Yes…let's," replied Roxas, nodding resolutely as Zexion picked up the piece of paper that had been left on the table.

"The next line is

_This chaotic situation must be undone,_

_The hearts must be turned pure,_

_If you cannot stop them before it's too late,_

_You alone must give the cure."_

"Okay, so, in layman's, or Axel, terms—"

"I resent that."

"Resentment noted. The situation needs to be fixed…the hearts need to get straightened out, you have to stop them before something horrible happens, or else you have to give the 'cure'."

"What's the cure?"

"We'll just have to figure that out. Next line…

_Where two hearts together create harmony,_

_Havoc is wreaked in a gathering of more._

_Where one heart alone lives in peace,_

_Hundreds joined creates war."_

"Okay, so this is what's the cause of all the unpureness and junk, right?"

"'Unpureness and junk'?" Zexion tossed an amused smile towards Axel, before turning back to the poem. "But yes, it would seem that way."

"Great…we're getting somewhere. Where exactly is somewhere?"

"We're trying to figure that out." Zexion sighed and looked back over the poem.

"It says 'gathering of more'. A gathering of hearts? Maybe it is referring to a crowd of people? Or nonexistent people? Like us, perhaps? Maybe a such a large number of powerful Nobodies being together is causing whatever 'havoc' there is."

"Well, I'm not so far fetched as to say that idea was pretty far fetched, but Zex, man, that was out there." **(A/N: Ha! Southern Hippy!Axel…interesting, no?)**

Zexion glared at the redhead. "Well I was just trying to help, unlike _somebody_ I could mention."

"Emo-boi, there are a lot of Somebodies out there, none us being one."

"Emo? Emo? Just because I prefer the quiet solitude of books rather than the obnoxious—"

"QUIET!!! Arguing is getting us NOWHERE! Now, are you two going to behave like the civilized beings we are, or am I going to have to sit you in the corner?" Everyone stared. No one had ever seen the normally peaceful Demyx explode like that. It was unheard of in the history of Organization XIII, and the other three were scared. Very scared.

Roxas whimpered, while Zexion and Axel both tried to shrink and disappear. After a few moments of stunned silence, Axel tentatively tried to break the pressure.

"Uh, heh, well, if it's an Emo corner, I'm sure Zexion wouldn't mind—"

"AXEL! CORNER! NOW!!!"

Axel squeaked and scampered.

"Let's just get back on track now, shall we?" Roxas glanced at Demyx, as if to check if that was okay.

"Sure!" Demyx practically beamed at him, showing no signs of his former anger.

"Riiiiight. So, it is talking about a gathering of hearts, right? What is something that could do such harm?" Roxas went back to thinking about the riddle, but still wary of Demyx's other side.

His thought process was interrupted, however, when the loud bang of a wooden door being slammed open reverberated through the library, the handles almost breaking as it was roughly thrown open.

"Freeze!" Yellow streaks followed this proclamation, and within seconds Zexion, Demyx, Roxas, and Axel (who had snuck out of the corner to hear what was going on) were pinned to their seats.

"Isn't 'freeze' more of Vexen's thing, Larxene?" Unperturbed, Zexion very calmly plucked the metal kunai out of his cloak, and stood up to welcome the Savage Nymph.

"Ah, Zexion. I thought you were the intruders."

"I gathered that from the way you acted."

"Mmm…" Intense sapphire eyes roved through the room, resting for a few seconds each on each of the shaking Nobodies still seated before switching back to Zexion.

"So…why are you hanging with these losers…and Roxas?" Axel squawked in indignation while Roxas merely nodded his greeting. He and Larxene had a wary respect for each other, gained through many failed and successful attempts at kidnapping, thievery, blackmail, and torture, can't forget torture. Roxas almost half-shuddered at the memory.

"Just the Cloaked Schemer doing what he does best," answered Zexion smoothly with a hint of a smirk.

"Of course," replied Larxene, satisfied with his answer. "Well, if ever you have the time, help us try and help Xaldin. He may be one of us and all, but you know how I am about helping others." Larxene winked evilly, and the others knew just what she meant. Larxene did things only for herself, never for anyone else.

"And you're asking me?" Zexion scoffed.

"Mmm. True. But I don't see why anyone would've done this; we haven't done anything to attract attention, at least, not yet. In fact, Xemnas is already debating whether to pull the plug on the Castle Oblivion project. If another member goes under…" Larxene made a slashing motion across her throat.

"Ah. Good news for us, then. Oh, and I have your book, Marquis de Sade, wasn't it? In a brilliant move, Zexion managed to divert attention from the situation at hand and supply Larxene with a distraction, enough so that she would willingly walk away without suspecting a thing. The blue haired Nobody pulled a book out of the folds of his cloak and handed it to the now eager blonde.

"Yes! Thanks, Zexion. See you 'round." With a last, condescending wave of her hand, Larxene exited the library, clutching greedily at her new book.

"Phew…Thought we were goners for a minute there. Good goin', Zex." Axel smirked appreciatively.

Zexion nodded at him, then sat back down next to Demyx.

"Something's been bugging me," Roxas began, and he shifted in his seat as everyone's attention turned to him. "What I mean is, I think we should help Xaldin right now. He's in trouble, and needs our help. The poem can wait, our…friend…needs us now."

Slinging an arm around his companion, Axel grinned smugly. "Nicely said, Blondie." _Oh, how times have changed_, thought Axel. _Once upon a time, Roxas was so adamant in the fact that we don't have hearts he wouldn't even utter the word 'friend'. Now he's using it on someone as unfamiliar as Xaldin…but that's my Roxy for ya._

"Yeah, for Xaldin!" Demyx bounced happily.

"I suppose…we could research the subject, and see if something similar to this has happened. I had been wondering why Xemnas hadn't earlier, so we can make up for his lack of judgment." Zexion concurred, appreciating the sentiment, and wondering briefly is the other three would do the same for him, one day.

"Right!" Roxas jumped up, immediately taking charge. "Okay, Axel, you take the northwestern corner, Demyx, southwestern, Zexion, southeast, and I'll take on the northeast portion. Nobody rangers, go!"

The other three shot forward, then turned back to Roxas.

"Nobody rangers?" Axel voiced what they were all thinking.

"Um, um, Teen Nobodies! Go!" Zexion, Demyx, and Axel all exchanged looks, wondering why they listened to him.

"Nobody Four! Go!"

"Just…just drop it, Rox." Axel walked over and grabbed the protesting blonde, dragging him to the northern wing.

A few hours later, the 'Nobody Four' returned to the main reading area, and collapsed exhausted on the couches.

"I couldn't find _anything_." Demyx groaned from his position on Zexion's arm, the slate haired Nobody looking equally tired.

"I found few enough records on a Nobody even getting _sick_, let alone collapsing in a coma.

"We got nothing." Axel spoke for both him and Roxas, as Roxas was almost asleep in his recliner.

The blonde blink sleepily, then stared dejectedly at the glass coffee table, propping his feet up and groaning at what they had accomplished: nothing.

"Well," Roxas said, expressing what they already knew, "we searched the whole library. The only book we didn't read was this one." Nudging the blue tome on the table with his foot, Roxas flipped it over. One of the covers turned open, exposing a few white sheets of paper.

Sighing again, Roxas sat up and picked the book off the glass, looking down and seeing which page it had turned to.

_32 Craiza, Year of Awakening,_

_Dear journal,_

_I apologize for not writing in so long, but I have had to tend to Desix and Eraxes. They have fallen into a type of coma, and Lexm says that their spirits are elsewhere, for she cannot sense their thoughts or their minds. And worse, they are slowly beginning to fade, tendrils of darkness slowly drifting away from them. I do not know what has caused this, but I must discover it soon before we are all under the influence of this…disease. And I must work all the faster, for I fear Chelxia may be next. More later._

_Eternally yours (though how long is eternity?),_

Aryx

Reading this, the blood drained from Roxas' face, and he looked up to face the confused Nobodies sitting across from him.

"Kingdom hearts…" he managed to croak out. "It's Kingdom Hearts that's doing this.

**A/N: Yar, I know, kinda short, but look at that twist near the end! And I killed/comafied Xaldin! Ph33r m3 and my writer powers! And I see Axel and Zexion as severly conflicting personalities, that's just the kind of people they are, y'know? And it seems like Zexion and larxene would click...meh, tomato, tahmato. And you begin to see how it fits in with the game, it's be like this happened just before Marluxia and co. go to Castle Oblivion to trap Sora. This won't fit in with the actual story, it's more of what would occur if this happened, and...yeah. So. Hope you enjoyed. And can you click that pretty purple button right there? No, to your left more. Please? Pweeeese? XD, Ah, how desperate I sound. Anyway, thanks for reading!**


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